Parkland Commission Recommends Teachers Be Allowed To Carry Guns [View all]

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Last edited Thu Jan 3, 2019, 10:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Guardian

The commission investigating the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida has included a recommendation in its preliminary report that classroom teachers who volunteer and undergo training should be allowed to carry guns in school.

The 15-member Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school public safety commission on Wednesday unanimously approved the 446-page report containing that proposal and a slew of other recommendations, many geared towards "hardening" schools as potential targets for mass shooters. The recommendations are now in the hands of outgoing state governor Rick Scott, governor-elect Ron DeSantis and the state legislature.

Other changes proposed include ensuring school classroom doors can lock from the inside, mandatory lockdown training for teachers, and funding to install bulletproof glass on all school windows by the year 2025.

Juliana Simone Carrasco, a high school student and volunteer with the campaign group Students Demand Action, said in response to the recommendation: "As a student attending school in Florida, I am appalled that the commission that was established to make schools in our state safer is recommending teachers carry guns." Carrasco added in a statement released by the Everytown for Gun Safety advocacy group: "I don't want my teachers to be armed, I want my elected leaders to pass policies to keep guns out of the hands of people with dangerous intentions to begin with."


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/02/parkland-school-shooting-commission-report-teachers-carry-guns

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Arming teachers has many critics. "There is no evidence that arming teachers makes kids safer," said Gay Valimont with FL Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. "Our children deserve real solutions to keep them safe from gun violence - like a criminal background check on every gun sale - not policies that will put them at even higher risk."

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) have both rejected calls for arming teachers as an answer to gun violence, like the National Association of School Resource Officers.

The new recommendation is a very small part of the commission report, and advocates expanding a "guardian" program. School systems currently team with local sheriffs to arm eligible school employees. The program is voluntary, must be approved by the board and requires staff to complete 132 hours of comprehensive training.




Parkland student survivors with March for Our Lives demonstrate in Washington, DC.



Fred Guttenberg, father of a Parkland victim, presses FL Sen. Marco Rubio on gun control reform.